By Jennifer Kocher and Mark Christensen, County 17
New Campbell County Attorney Mitch Damsky is making good on his promise to look into some of the more nefarious dealings by out-of-state coal companies, setting his sights first on former Blackjewel CEO Jeff Hoops.
On top of leaving the county on the hook for $16 million in ad valorem taxes after the company’s bankruptcy in 2019 that exposed the tangled – and alleged deceitful – underpinnings of his fossil fuel empire traversing 32 mines, several states and an undisclosed number of shell companies, Damsky said that Hoops left a lot of ruined lives in his wake as he and his family profited handsomely.